The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has republished this interesting interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in which he tries to explain his country’s increased interest in Latin America. The interview, excerpted from an article in a Latin America studies journal, has been summarized nicely by the Chinese media, but we thought we’d provide a choice sample:

Question: “An upsurge is currently being observed in our ties with the Latin American regimes attributable to the so called Left Turn. And how do matters stand in relations with other governments?”

Foreign Minister Lavrov: “In developing relations with the countries of Latin America, we are not guided by ideological approaches, but by considerations of mutual advantage and pragmatism. Of course, we also take into account the reciprocal interest in strengthening cooperation with our country.

“Dividing Latin American leaders into “left-wing” and “right-wing” is highly provisional, and not infrequently this is being used for unseemly purposes, to exert purposeful political influence through the formation of some or other cliches in the global information space.

“At the same time one cannot fail to see that new political forces have in recent years come to power in most Latin American countries on a wave of popular disillusionment with the ability of traditional elites to secure a real improvement of life on the basis of neoconservative recipes. The interest they show in diversifying the external ties of their states objectively contributes to the development of Russian-Latin American relations.”

Question: “Some media are presenting Russia’s turn to Latin America as supposedly a return to the Cold War between East and West. What do you think about this?”